How does soil stay fertile?

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Article #1401

#1401

From: William Coyne
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 1990 13:04

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In the past crop rotation without the use of artificial fertilizers
was used to maintain the productivity of fields.

How did this work?

The soil requires various elements - nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus. 
Now the nitrogen can be obtained from the atmosphere by growing certain
plants in the field(eg clover), but where do the other elements come
from to replace those amounts of them used in the previous seasons?
 
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From: william@lorien.newcastle.ac.uk (William Coyne)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.chem
Subject: How does soil stay fertile?
Summary: How does crop rotation maintain soil fertility?
Keywords: soil fertility crop rotation
Message-ID: <1990Nov19.130439.9168@newcastle.ac.uk>
Date: 19 Nov 90 13:04:39 GMT
Sender: news@newcastle.ac.uk
Organization: Chemical & Process Engineering Dept, University of Newcastle, UK.
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